IDF battles swine flu with extra leave

July 2, 2009 - 11:40 AM by Nicky · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, Life, health 

Whether you call it swine flu or Mexican flu, the number of cases of the virus H1N1 in Israel continues to creep up.

Please don't lick that pig...

Please don't lick that pig...

Since the flu first reached here in late April, just days after it was identified in Mexico and the US, there have been anything from 300 to 542 confirmed cases, depending on which newspaper you read. And, according to one Israeli paper, the total number of flu cases has more than doubled in the last two weeks alone.

Earlier this week, the IDF decided to take some preventative measures, after an increasing number of troops came down with the illness.

The problem, the IDF discovered, was with soldiers who had come into contact with Jewish American youngsters as part of the Jewish Agency’s Taglit-Birthright program, where they bring Jewish kids from the US to Israel to experience the country.

According to Ynet, some 20 soldiers working with Taglit youth contracted the H1N1 virus over the last few weeks. These soldiers then returned to their units, and infected their fellow comrades, raising the number of sick servicemen to several dozens. Units affected – including one Navy torpedo boat – had no choice but to declare a temporary shutdown.

Now the IDF has decided not to take any more chances. This is the nation’s security we’re talking about after all. The army’s chief medical officer has ordered soldiers who work with Taglit to take five-days leave to make sure they are flu-free.

Out in the civilian world as well, flu continues to spread. Last week, the PM, Bibi Netanyahu canceled all his meetings after a close associate tested positive for swine flu.

The health maintenance funds (Kupat Holim), now responsible for treating swine flu patients, are also feeling the crunch. When my husband phoned a contact in his health fund to try to bring forward a doctor’s appointment it took him three days to get hold of her, and when he finally did she said she was too busy dealing with swine flu cases to talk.

Now there’s talk of testing all the 5,000 or so visiting athletes due to fly in any day to take part in this month’s Maccabiah games. Any that test positive will be refused entry. Deputy Health Minister, Ya’akov Litzman told reporters: “I don’t want to reach a situation in which another 5,000 people come here and just increase [the incidence of] the disease.”

Well, it’s still early days yet. Like much of Europe, flu season in these parts usually only begins in November. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.

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Day of Remembrance

April 28, 2009 - 3:25 PM by Harry · Leave a Comment
Filed under: History and Culture, Holidays, Life, War 

A soldier's funeralRemembrance day. Oddly enough, this is the one “holiday” that I always feel thoroughly connected to. Not sure why. I’m just not really a spiritual fellow. Ever since I was a little boy I had dreams of serving in the IDF. For years it was just fantasy and of course the first time I ever fired a gun as a soldier the reality of what being a soldier really meant sunk in.

I was lucky enough to serve in the IDF during a “quiet” time – relatively. It was before Israel pulled out of Lebanon and a few years before the second intifada started. I knew some guys who were seriously wounded in Lebanon, one guy in my unit killed himself during basic training (at home on a weekend off) but other than those instances, I didn’t personally know any soldiers who died.

So what do I usually think about during the sirens? I think about my friend who lost five of his former soldiers in a horrible brush fire in Lebanon during a firefight with Hezbollah, just a week after he was discharged (I’d met one of the guys the week before at my friend’s army release party). I went with him to two of the funerals. I think about the father of an old roommate who was killed by a sniper as he got out of his tank during the Yom Kippur War just hours after the ceasefire was declared. My roommate was 11 months old at the time. And I think about the history of my unit, the Seventh Brigade, and the sacrifices they made as they fought to protect our borders from our enemies in every single one of Israel’s wars. Victims of terror is another story all together. Some good friends have narrowly escaped with their lives (but with both physical and psychological scars), others I’ve known did not.

Photo courtesy of kodak agfa from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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A package from home

January 5, 2009 - 11:52 AM by David · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Israeliness, Life, Profiles, War 

Barabara Silverman, in the matching white coat and hair, with her band of volunteers.

Barabara Silverman, in the matching white coat and hair, with her band of volunteers.

It’s an overworn cliche that one person can make a difference, but in the case of Jerusalem grandma Barbara Silverman, it’s true.

The Chicago-native senior citizen made aliya nearly 30 years ago, and two of her three children ended up living here as well, raising their own families. Around eight years ago, at the beginning of the Second Intifada, Silverman wanted to do something for the IDF soldiers who were protecting the country against Palestinian suicide bombers. And as a grandma, she started making cookies – lots of them – which she would then deliver personally to checkpoints around Jerusalem.

The cookies quickly expanded to Shabbat meals, Silverman started attracting other volunteers, and soon a full-fledged organization was founded based in her apartment – called A Package From Home. Silverman and her merry group of volunteers began collecting goods from Jerusalem-area merchants, like chocolate, long johns, towels, and hats, and packing them off to the soldiers. What they couldn’t schnorr, they bought at cost from donations that began flowing in.

The group found a willing partner in the IDF, who sent trucks on a weekly basis to Silverman’s apartment to pick up the boxes and deliver them to soldiers – mostly lone soldiers without family in Israel, or soldiers who had been injured in the line of duty.
But during the Second Lebanon War, and now, during Operation Cast Lead, A Package From Home has gone into overdrive, sending thousands of care packages to soldiers on the front.

“Since Operation Cast Lead began, we’ve sent 2,000 packages and we’re preparing to pack and send another 1,300 on Monday,” Silverman told me yesterday. “Unfortunately we have experience with other wars. During the Second Lebanon War, we sent 22,000 packages in 33 days to the soldiers on the front.”

“I spoke to a tank commander who was in his tank for four days, and when he received some fresh underwear, it meant a great deal to him. Another soldier told me that when he opened the towel and put it up to his face, it smelled like his home,” said the proud grandmother.

If you want to volunteer for organization, or just provide a donation, go here.. As Silverman has shown, one person can make a difference.

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Kids’ play

January 4, 2009 - 9:09 AM by David · 4 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, War 

An IDF soldier preparing to enter Gaza on Saturday night. (Photo Courtesy Jerusalem Post)

An IDF soldier preparing to enter Gaza on Saturday night. (Photo Courtesy Jerusalem Post)

It’s one thing to be watching the harrowing TV scenes of IDF soldiers trudging into Gaza as the second week of Operation Cast Lead begins its ground incursion. It’s another to know some of those soldiers.

It’s inevitable that everyone in Israel knows somebody who’s involved in some aspect of the wars we’re forced to fight. And in previous mobilizations since I’ve been living here, it’s always been myself and my peers who were called up to perform the required tasks.

But now, I’m at the age where alot of my friends’ children are now serving in the IDF. I’m aware of at least two young soldiers who are among the infantry troops who went into Gaza Saturday night and are now engaged in combat with Hamas forces.

And they’re so young! I remember their brit milas, their bar mitzvahs and their temper tantrums – wondering how they would ever make there way in the world with their wild behavior. Now, they’re the ones being called upon to engage this most evil of enemies and attempt to restore a new order in Gaza that will see a quiet border and no more rocket attacks on our southern communities.

So while it may have been chilling for anyone watching the troops march into Gaza with their night vision, huge backpacks and weapons like the brave soldiers they are, what I saw was the little guys who used to play in the sand box in my yard, throw food on my walls, and trash the house during birthday parties.

And I also saw their parents watching the same TV images, worried to their bones and praying that their sons will return home safely.

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